A lot of discussion about how smaller law firms can use document assembly—see for example this article—isn’t particularly exciting. You might be left with the impression that it’s nothing more than mail merge on steroids. I’ll now try to explain why that’s not the case. Above is part of a post on Contract-Automation Clearinghouse. To see the rest, go here. Contract-Automation Clearinghouse is where I … Read More
My December 11, 2014, San Francisco “Drafting Clearer Contracts” seminar was cancelled because of a power outage caused by the epic storm that swept through the city that morning. It has now been rescheduled for February 20, 2015; go here for more information. The rescheduled seminar isn’t open only to those who registered for the December 11 seminar—newcomers are welcome too! … Read More
Years ago a wrote briefly about contract-lifecycle-management (CLM) software, which is software that allows an organization to keep track of its contracts and key contract information, such as deadlines. See for example this 2007 post. Apttus and Emptoris are just two examples of CLM software. But I’ve never had any direct experience with CLM software, and I’ve had only brief conversations … Read More
In this post on his LawSites blog, Bob Ambrogi (@bobambrogi) lists what he considers the ten most important legal technology developments of 2014. It makes for interesting reading, but of course the first thing I looked for was any mention of contract automation. As I would have expected, there was none. Above is part of a post on Contract-Automation Clearinghouse. To see the … Read More
I’m sorry that I’ve been slow to post this, but I won’t be doing seminars in Australia in 2015, even though the author note in my 2014 article for the ACLA Journal (here) said that I would be. It’s not for lack of demand. Instead, Melbourne University has been going through serious budget woes, so my partner Melbourne Law School simply … Read More
Over the weekend @bickmark sent the following tweet my way: .@KonciseD Does the quote regarding questionnaire-based automation ring true? Has BigLaw automated the M&A agreement? http://t.co/Ok1R2ZZMhO — bickmark (@bickmark) December 28, 2014 Here’s my transcription of the relevant bit of that Marketplace radio segment: This post is on Contract-Automation Clearinghouse. To see the rest, go here. Contract-Automation Clearinghouse is where I … Read More
Via a regular source of my Twitter leads, @ronfriedmann, I learned of this article in Corporate Counsel by Sue Reisinger about how a team at IBM “earned international recognition for taking dozens of pages of complex contracts for cloud services and reducing them to a simple, two-page document.” Assuming that you get rid of the dead wood, make appropriate trade-offs, and don’t … Read More
I recently came across this blog post on Clio’s website. Clio is software that handles time and billing, calendaring, and collaboration, but this blog post is about something else—how law firms can use “commercial legal forms.” It suggests three possible uses: You can copy them. You can resell them. Or you can create and sell your own. Here’s my take … Read More
Here’s a story told in this post on the BeLabor the Point blog: A contract between a company and a departing employee stated that the company would pay the employee “an annual salary in the amount of $56,398.68 pro rata from the Termination Date of April 1, 2013 through May 24, 2013.” The company subsequently issued the employee four checks, one every two … Read More
Does the word actual have a role to play in contracts? Sure, when it’s used to draw a contrast with some other attribute: any actual or alleged damage their actual or potential adverse impact Or when a word arguably some other, non-actual meaning. Referring to actual knowledge is appropriate to avoid anyone suggesting that you’re referring to imputed knowledge. But … Read More
